Mark Leibovich to Stay at the “New York Times”

Rarely has a reporter staying in his job been bigger news in journalism than the fact today that theNew York Times’sMark Leibovich is staying put—albeit with a promotion of sorts.

Washington’s reigning master of the political profile will be the new chief national correspondent for theNew York Times Magazine, according to a statement from editorHugo Lindgren. He’ll also contribute
to the political pieces in the paper’s Sunday Styles section. Since he left theWashington Post in 2006, Leibovich has been working mostly for the daily paper and contributing a couple of pieces annually to theMagazine.

Leibovich’s move comes just weeks after theNew Republic made a run at recruiting him to join its new incarnation led byChris Hughes andFranklin Foer. So far, the 40,000-circulation
magazine, which is attempting to relaunch the brand with the addition of
high-profile, high-powered,
and pricey talent, has been having great success recruiting its
dream team. This week alone it’s announced the
recruiting

of theNew Yorker’sJulia Ioffe and theTablet’sMarc Tracy and last week hired

Greg Veis back from theTimes Magazine. Recruiting Leibovich would have been a seismic event for Washington media.

“I like to be read,” Leibovich said. “That’s most of what any writer could want.”

At theTimes Magazine, he won’t have much problem achieving that goal.

Says Lindgren in his memo today, “His style is so naturally suited to what we do. He understands exactly how the culture of
Washington interacts with the culture of the whole country.”

about Washington culture that will surely be received as a
blockbuster when it’s published. To be published next year by Simon
& Schuster, itexamines “how
modern Washington has perfected the
culture of self-love and celebrity while the rest of the
country is feeling increasingly alienated from the place.”

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